DEFENDING HUMAN RIGHTS ON THE FRONTLINES IN SOUTHEAST ASIA AND THE PACIFIC From the mounting body count in the “war on drugs” perpetrated by Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte and his government, to the silencing of political opposition and independent media in Cambodia, to the Myanmar military’s violent campaign of murder, rape and arson that caused the flight of more than 720,000 Rohingya women, men, and children from northern Rakhine State to Bangladesh, the state of human rights in many countries in Southeast Asia and the Pacific has continued along a deteriorating trajectory in 2018. Amid a growing climate of impunity for human rights violations, human rights defenders are increasingly vulnerable. Governments across the region continue to fall short of, or even ignore, their obligation to protect human rights defenders, who often find themselves subjected to harassment, threats, criminal proceedings and violence. Those on the frontlines – such as youth and land activists, women’s rights defenders and trade unionists – are all too often the target of state repression for speaking out in defence of rights.
TOOLS OF REPRESSION, FROM CYBER SURVEILLANCE TO ONLINE HARASSMENT Governments have displayed increasing intolerance of peaceful dissent and activism, abusing judicial powers to impose and enforce legislation that restricts the peaceful exercise of rights and shrinks civic space. Threats to a free media continue at a disturbing rate. In Singapore, activists have faced targeted pressure and criticism, including convictions for “scandalizing the judiciary” for expressing themselves on Facebook. In Thailand, scores of human rights defenders, journalists, politicians, lawyers and activists were prosecuted for peaceful assembly, and faced charges of criminal defamation and sedition. In Fiji, three media executives and a letterwriter were put on trial for sedition – and later acquitted – on charges that were politically motivated. In the Philippines, as in Myanmar, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand and Cambodia, there has been an increase
in the use of social media to fuel hate speech against social, religious or ethnic minorities, particularly on Facebook. At the same time, people are increasingly being penalized for views expressed online, including peaceful criticisms of authorities. Repressive cyber laws are being pushed across the region, raising an unprecedented long-term threat to freedom of expression and the right to privacy. In one such example, in July Viet Nam passed a sweeping and deeply repressive new law that provides censors with the authority to force technology companies to hand over vast amounts of data, including personal information, and to censor users’ posts. Despite committing to abolishing the death penalty, Thailand executed a 26-year-old man convicted of murder, thus ending an execution-free period of nine years.
ABUSERS HIDE BEHIND MASK OF DEMOCRACY In Cambodia, Prime Minister Hun Sen’s party won the general elections in July — having used legislation and the judiciary to effectively eliminate any meaningful opposition and shut down dozens of media outlets in the lead-up to the vote. Myanmar’s power-sharing deal between the civilian government and the military has seen a further erosion of human rights and freedoms — despite the Aung San Suu Kyiled National League for Democracy government having a majority in the Parliament, which would allow it to revise or abolish at least some of the most repressive laws. 28
PEACEFUL CRITICS STILL TARGETED – DESPITE HOPES IN MALAYSIA Malaysia’s surprise election result in May, which saw former Prime Minister Najib Razak ousted, was seen as a possible gateway to positive human rights change. Prisoner of conscience Anwar Ibrahim was released from jail, marking the end of over two decades of political persecution of the former opposition leader. In October, the government announced plans to repeal the death penalty for all crimes, as well as the repressive Sedition Act. These would represent significant steps forward if implemented. Elsewhere, politically motivated arrest and detention of those speaking out on human rights violations continue unabated. In Myanmar, Reuters journalists Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo were each sentenced to seven years’ imprisonment for their role in exposing a massacre, led by state security forces, of Rohingya men. In the Philippines in September, Duterte critic Senator Antonio Trillanes IV was arrested and released, and awaits trial on bail. Senator Leila de Lima has been in detention for over a year on politically motivated charges. In a rare positive development, Cambodian housing rights activist Tep Vanny was released from prison after serving two years of her politically motivated sentence. In Viet Nam, blogger Me Nâm (known as Mother Mushroom) was also released after two years in detention, and sent into exile in the USA. LGBTI people continue to encounter major discrimination. In Malaysia and
